“Good morning!” Libban entered the hall, her hair
flowing like locks of gold down her shoulders, her eyes glinting like a
sapphire fire. “Now that you are refreshed, please come and sit with me. There
is much for us to talk about.”

She led Brianna back to the room with the large
table where they had eaten the night before. Libban motioned for Brianna to sit
down and then gracefully slipped into a chair next to her.

“I know that this is going to be hard for you to
believe, but I know who you are and why you are here.” She sighed and touched
Brianna’s hand. “You are the promised one—the one who The Spirit of Truth sent
to heal the land.”

Opening her eyes, Brianna gazed into a clear blue
sky illuminated by warm, hazy rays of sunlight. She slowly turned her head to
look around. She was lying on a carpet of soft, green grass. All around her she
heard the sweet, cheerful songs of birds as a playful breeze rumpled her long
black hair.

Where am I?

She tried to raise her head but a hot, sharp pain
shot through it.

Ow! I have one heck of a
headache!

Gently, she lay her head back down. As she
stretched into a more comfortable position, she noticed the clothes she was
wearing; a white, ruffled blouse and a long, purple skirt. She was vaguely
confused but couldn’t figure out why. Suddenly a strong urge to sleep overcame
her. Closing her eyes, she listened to the birds and felt the warm sun soaking
into her skin. The soft breeze caressed her cheeks and pressed the tendrils of
her hair against her forehead. Gently, she was lulled back to sleep.

Brianna was awakened by a swishing sound nearby.

What was that?

She turned her head to see a woman with long,
blonde hair and a robe the color of fresh, pink rose petals walking through the
grass with two little blue gnarled creatures at her side. She tried to jump up,
to run away, but another hot flash of pain in her head quickly halted her
efforts.

Oh God! What are those
things?

In terror, she watched as the woman looked over at
her.

“Oh my goodness! My dear, are you ill? Where did
you come from?” The woman walked over to Brianna and bent down, her brow knit
with concern. “You needn’t be afraid, dear. I am Libban.”

The two little blue creatures hopped around
Brianna, sniffing and snorting as they nudged her arms and legs.

“Stop! Please!” She begged. “Where…where am I?

Libban spoke sharply to the little blue creatures
and they ran to her side, looking at Brianna from behind her skirt.

“Who are you?” Brianna said, her voice shaking.

“I am Libban, Keeper of the Land.”

“Keeper of what land? Where am I?” Brianna managed
to whisper.

“Why, you are in Yashire!” Libban crouched next to
Brianna.

“What is Yashire?” Brianna asked, tears stinging
her eyes.

“You must have had a hard fall, my dear. Do you
remember how you got here? What is your name?” Libban surveyed her intently
with crystalline blue eyes.

“I…I’m not sure!” Brianna answered.

What is my name? Oh, God!
What is happening?

“Here, let me help you. Would you like to come to
my home? Maybe you will remember as we walk.” Libban stood and offered her hand
to help Brianna up.

Carefully, Brianna obliged, inching herself up
slowly because of the throbbing in her head.

They walked through the meadow and up a small hill
to a large mansion. The two little blue creatures chased each other through the
meadow ahead of Brianna and Libban and disappeared into the mansion. The
windows in the mansion were open and plump white doves perched on the sills
amongst brilliant red, white and orange flowing vines that climbed the stone
walls.

This place is huge! It
looks like a castle or something!

Brianna gazed at the huge leafy trees all over the
grounds. Roses bloomed among the deep purple violets growing thick in the
flower gardens in front of the mansion.

I’ve never seen anything
like this in my life! Wait…how do I know that? Where am I? What is this place?
Am I hallucinating?

Brianna stopped walking, her thoughts racing.

Who am I? How can I not
know who I am?

Panic gripped her.

“What is this place called?” she asked, her throat
tightening.

“This land is called Yashire. Please come in and
sit down. Maybe you will begin to remember if you relax a bit.” Libban
answered, motioning for her to follow through the arched front doorway.

Due to some circumstances, I couldn't review the book but I do have some excerpts for you.

Excerpt One:

Brianna started her car and turned on the radio as
she pulled out of the driveway.

I’m happy I’m feeling
better today. Yesterday sucked.

She drove down the street with her radio blasting,
singing along loudly as she headed toward Angie’s house.

Yeah! A free day to do
anything we want! Today’s gonna be a blast!

She pulled in to Angie’s driveway and honked. She
didn’t want to have to talk to Angie’s parents; they were too nosey and would
ask too many questions. Angie came running out of the house and jumped in the
car.

“So what are we gonna do today?” Angie asked as she
threw her purse and schoolbag by her feet.

“I don’t know. We gotta write the notes though and
go to first hour. Say that I have to leave for a doctor’s appointment and you
have an appointment with that counselor that you saw before. Then we’ll ditch
school and I’ll meet you in the parking lot after first hour. Do you want to
write them or should I?”

Brianna took off and headed to school. When they
got there, she turned to Angie. “Ok. I’ll meet you here after first hour.”

“Ok. See ya,” Angie replied as they both headed in.

An hour later they were back in the parking lot,
ready to have some fun.

“So where are we going?” Angie asked.

“Let’s go shopping. I have some money. And I need
cigarettes. Do you have any money?”

“Not much. Maybe just enough to get something to
eat,” Angie looked over at her as they drove away. “So what are you going to do
about John?”

“I don’t know. Everyone’s talking about it and
staring at me in the hallway.” She sighed heavily. “I’m so sick of doing this stupid
stuff all the time. I think I should stop going out so much.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Angie replied. “But what are you
going to say to everyone?”

“I got too drunk. What else can I say? And who
cares anyway? Everyone drinks and does stupid shit. I’m not the only one.
John’s a big boy. He knew what he was doing. It’s as much his fault as mine,”
Brianna said as she lit up a cigarette.

“True.” Angie reached for Brianna’s pack of
cigarettes and lit one up also.

“Maybe if there was a decent guy out there that
wouldn’t be so willing to screw around it would be a different story. I’ve
never met one though. None of them seem to give a shit. All they want is a
booty call. They never take anything seriously. So why should I? I’m young. I
want to have fun just like everyone else.”

“I know, right?” Angie agreed.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to get married. I’m
sixteen and I’ve gone out with tons of guys. None of them want to get serious,
and if they do, they cheat on you anyway. You can’t win. Why the heck should I
even try? And look at my parents. If you do get married, it’s probably going to
end up like crap anyway. What’s the point?” She took a drag of her cigarette.

“Let’s go shop there!” Suddenly distracted, Brianna
pointed at a place on her right and swerved across a lane of traffic and into
the parking lot.

“Dang Bri!” Angie yelled as she grabbed hold of her
door handle. “Quit driving like a maniac!”

Brianna just laughed and parked the car.

***

Hours later, they were both sick of shopping.

“Let’s go eat,” Angie suggested after they had
gotten back in the car and were driving out of the parking lot.

“Sounds good to me. Where do you wanna go?”

“I don’t know. How about someplace downtown?” Angie
snapped her gum.

“Sure.” Brianna headed downtown. “What about
Stan’s? Right over there?” She pointed as they went toward Main Avenue.

“Yeah. That looks good.” Angie nodded.

“Alright! Hurry up, you idiot!” Brianna stepped on
the gas and passed a car directly in front of them. Then she swerved ahead of
it, veering to the right, and pulled into a parking space directly across the
street from the restaurant. “Here we are!”

The car honked its horn as it drove by.

“Dang! Quit being so reckless!” Angie laughed as
they both got out. She ran around the front of the car as Brianna locked the
doors. They both began crossing the street when Brianna dropped her keys. Angie
continued across the street as Brianna bent down to pick them up.

“Hurry up!” Angie turned and yelled behind her.
“I’m hungry!”

Just as Brianna grabbed her keys, Angie started
screaming. A car horn blared loudly. Seconds later she felt a car hit her and
she was thrown through the air like a rag doll, landing with a thud. Her arms
and legs crumpled beneath her. She heard voices around her and a heavy
motionless feeling spread through her whole body as the sounds drifted farther
and farther away. As the daylight began to fade, the buzzing in her ears got
louder. Then blackness.

Tuesday, 9 June 2015

The book is The secrets of Yashire which is by Diamante Lavendar. I am posting a review of the book on June 21st and I will also be posting some exerpts too! But for now, I'm going to tell you about the book and the author.

About the Book

Title: The
Secrets of Yashire

Author: Diamante Lavendar

Genre: YA Fantasy

The Secrets of Yashire: Emerging From the Shadows is a young adult fantasy
adventure that occurs within the framework of a young girl’s subconscious mind.
The main character, Brianna, finds herself thrown into a world called Yashire where she is forced to deal with circumstances that are
threatening Yashire’s existence. Against her will, she is
sent on a journey to restore unconditional love back to the land while also
contending with the evil force in the land, Zolan. Brianna is sent on her
mission by Libban, Keeper of the Land. Along the way, Brianna travels with the
mystical tiger, Angelos; a huge, whitish-tan tiger with thick black stripes who
sings only the purest songs of love, and the wondrous little one-eyed bird
named Abiba. During the journey, Brianna is also preparing to meet her
soulmate—the one she longs to be with and the one who will bring complete
healing back into her life. Together they travel through fantastic lands filled
with magical creatures that could only exist in the
wildest of imaginations. Through her treacherous brushes with danger and
heartwarming experiences of love and acceptance, Brianna discovers many things.
It is here, amidst the powers and phantasms of the mind that Brianna receives
life lessons and virtues to help her. Will one of her greatest triumphs be
achieved as she learns to believe in herself? For only then can she truly see
all of the wondrous things that life has to offer.

Author Bio

Diamante Lavendar has been in love with
reading since she was a child. She spent many hours listening to her mother
read to her when she was young. As she grew older, she enjoyed reading novels
of all genres: horror, fantasy and some romance to name a few.

She began writing in college and published
some poetry in anthologies over the years. After her kids were older, she wrote
as a form of self expression and decided she wanted to share her stories with
others.

Most of her writing is very personal and
stems from her own experiences and those of her family and friends. She writes
to encourage hope and possibility to those who read her stories.

Diamante believes that everyone should try
to leave their own positive mark in the world, to make it a better place for
all. Writing is the way that she is attempting to leave her mark—one story at a
time.

Sunday, 7 June 2015

I love hardbacks. They look really pretty on your shelf and if they get damaged, just slip the dust jacket back on and hey presto! Good as new. Unfortunatley, most books in the UK don't come out in hard back so you have to buy them from Amazon where they are like £12 which is crazy money. Another thing, hardbacks are really heavy. So someone like me whose still at school, probably doesn't want to be carrying around a really heavy hardbacks.

Although they are pretty, hardbacks are not very substantial. Paperbacks are lightweight, still really pretty and cheap. So I've declared paperbacks my winner in this never ending debate.

Wednesday, 3 June 2015

A court of thorns and roses by Sarah J .Maas was one of my highly anticipated books of the year. And like All the bright places by Jennifer Niven and Simon vs the Homo Sapiens agenda by Becky Albertalli, it certainly lived up to its expectations.

Let's begin with talking about how insanely beautiful the cover of this books is.

I mean how pretty are they? I know they say don't judge a book buy its cover but I would definitely buy this book because of its cover.
Anyways, the reason I am writing this is to tell you all what I thought of this book. This book is a beauty and the beast re-telling. But instead of a young fair maiden and a beast who is actually a prince, it is a human and a Faerie. The Fey people have had a curse bestowed upon them so they cannot remove the masks attached to their faces.

The book starts of with a human girl called Feyre. Feyre kills a wolf, not knowing that it was in fact, a Faerie. Feyre soon gets taken into the Faerie realm to live the rest of her days as punishment for killing the wolf. Little does she know, her whole world is about to be turned upside down as the soon, the fate of the Fey rests in her hands.

It is honestly a great book filled with magic and romance and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Monday, 1 June 2015

I have heard so many good things about this book on youtube, which is what made me pick the book up. I am so glad I did. Despite the very girl cover which most people find off putting, this book is so much more than 'girly'. It's a coming of age story about how discovering new abilities can change your life and show you that people may not always be who they say they are. It's a book that contains a kick ass heroine and a super adorable lead male. Throw in some supernatural elements and a smidge of romance; you get Rebel Belle.

The book tells the story of a girl named Harper Price, who, during an unfortunate event, gains kick ass super powers. And no, this is not like x-men. She has to go a long while before some mentor comes to save the day and tell her what she needs to do. She has to spend a while figuring out what to do by herself.